POPLARVILLE – Pearl River Community College began a long series of road trips on a successful note Tuesday night, sweeping a doubleheader from Elaine P. Nunez at Chalmette, La.
The 19th-ranked Wildcats broke open a close game with six runs in the final three innings to take the opener 8-2, then jumped on the Pelicans early and cruised to a 12-2 victory in six innings to complete the sweep.
Sophomore Simon Landry (Ponchatoula, La.) smacked his fifth home run and the Wildcats took advantage of five errors in the first game. Landry also homered in the nightcap, one of four round-trippers for PRCC in the game.
Pearl River (13-3) spotted Nunez a run in the bottom of the second inning, then scored twice in the top of the third.
Sophomore Derek Eberly (Blountstown, Fla.) stroked a one-out double, stole third and scored on an error. Redshirt sophomore Bryson Medious (Columbia) walked, stole second and scored on another error.
Nunez tied it with a run in the bottom of the third, but the Wildcats took the lead for good with three runs in the fifth, added another run in the sixth and two more on Landry's homer.
Eberly led off the fifth with a double and scored when the Pelicans committed an error on Medious' s sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch sent Medious to third and he scored on a groundout. Sophomore Matt Taylor (Raleigh) drove in another run with a double.
Freshman Luke Harper (Meridian) hit his first home run of the season in the sixth.
Freshman Deyton Lingle (Lake), the fourth of five Wildcat pitchers, earned his first victory of the season. Freshman Miles Smith (Laurel) started, freshman Austin Elliott (Alexander City, Ala.), redshirt freshman Dylan Usry (Lake) and freshman Colin Danley (Lucedale) also pitched.
The second game was all Pearl River from the start. Eberly walked to open the game, stole second, took third on a single by Medious and scored on a sacrifice fly, the first of four RBIs for Landry.
In the second, freshman Shemar Page (Raleigh) led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a single by sophomore Kevin Carter (Gulfport) and scored on a single by Eberly.
Medious was hit by a pitch to lead the bases and two runs came home on a fielder's choice off the bat of Landry. Eberly's second homer of the season with two out in the fourth made it 6-0.
Nunez got a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth off sophomore starter Camden Dusang (Carriere), but the Wildcats got those runs back on a two-run homer by freshman Noah Barron (Hoover, Ala.) in the fifth.
Medious smacked a three-run homer in the sixth, and Landry followed with a solo shot to give the Wildcats a 10-run lead and put the run rule into effect.
Dusang (3-0) allowed just one hit and three walks, and struck out five in four innings of work. Sophomores Luke Bradley (Pass Christian) and Colby White (Foxworth) each pitched an inning of relief.
PRCC opens MACJC play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Northwest Mississippi, then travels to Baton Rouge (La.) on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. doubleheader, the Wildcats' last non-conference games of the year. The games at Northwest will be live streamed on nwccrangers.com/watch.
PRCC BASEBALL LINESCORES
Tuesday at Chalmette, La.
Pearl River 8, Elaine P. Nunez (La.) 2
PRCC 002 031 2 – 8 6 0
NCC 011 000 0 – 2 6 5
PEARL RIVER (12-3): Derek Eberly 2 2B; Simon Landry HR (2-run); Noah Barron 2B; Matt Taylor 2B; Luke Harper HR (solo). WP – Deyton Lingle (1-0). Also pitching – Miles Smith (starter); Austin Elliott; Dylan Usry; Colin Danley.
ELAINE P. NUNEZ (3-17): Dominic Curole 2 1B; Gavin Amedeo 1B; Zachary Dorcey 2B; Braiden Usey 1B; Zane Hibbs 1B. LP –Shane Saizan. Also pitching – Hunter Maxwell; George Scifo.
Pearl River 12, Elaine P. Nunez (La.) 2
PRCC 230 124 – 12 10 2
NCC 000 200 – 2 2 1
PEARL RIVER (13-3): Derek Eberly HR (solo), 2 1B; Bryson Medious HR (3-run), 1B; Simon Landry HR (solo) (4 RBIs); Noah Barron HR (2-run), 1B (3 RBIs); Magruder O'Bannon 1B; Kevin Carter 1B. WP – Camden Dusang (3-0). Also pitching – Luke Bradley; Colby White.
ELAINE P. NUNEZ (3-18): Andrew Paige 1B; Alex Powell 1B. LP – Braiden Usey. Also pitching – Zane Hibbs; Gavin Amedeo.